"The Scottish Government's decision to invest a further £1.5 million into the OWA is a ringing endorsement of the great potential of this programme to help Scotland to utilise the full potential of offshore wind, and to ensure that we make it as affordable as possible," said Scotland's energy minister Paul Wheelhouse.

Scotland received its first floating turbine at Statoil's Hywind project last month.

Lindsay Roberts, senior policy manager at Scottish Renewables, said: "Our first major offshore wind farm – the Beatrice project in the Moray Firth – is being constructed right now, alongside Statoil's world leading floating wind development Hywind, and Vattenfall's highly innovative European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre. A number of other exciting schemes are getting ready to progress along our east coast.

"These funds will allow the Carbon Trust to explore the opportunities which offshore wind can offer and help make sure that Scotland reaps the maximum benefits from the sector's growth," she said.